Note To Self

Earlier this spring I decided to experiment with this Hydrangea by trimming out a lot of the dead wood. I hadn't done it the previous two summers and it still looked good, but I am incapable of leaving well enough alone.

So I trimmed and trimmed and trimmed until the poor dear look like it had gotten the proverbial $2 haircut from a friend, Ruben's, great-Aunt Gertie. But it is in a section of my garden I call the neglected garden, because, well .... I neglect it. I figured I would just ignore the horror I had created along with everything else that surrounded it.

But two months later the Hydrangea looks like it has every summer- full, green and loaded with blossoms. So- note to self- go to town next year with the Felcos and just give it a real shear. Perhaps it will look great?!?

This is my patented Japanese Beetle Killer. Hellman's bought me out and is now manufacturing them- as a sideline to their condiment business.

When I am feeling a bit lazy I like to hunt Japanese Beetles because it makes me feel like I am doing something useful- without expending TOO much energy. I love to put my hand over the beetles and watch them drop into the trap. Sometimes they fight a little and I actually have to pick them off and throw them to their doom. It is oddly satisfying to watch their carcasses accumulate in the jar. Each one dead is a beetle not out there reproducing.

I leave the jar in the garden so any time I wander out there I can pick it up and pick off a few more. After a week or two it gets so full that I am afraid they will be able to crawl out, so I empty it in a conspicuous place as a testament to my beetle killing abilities.

I suppose this makes me a serial killer, but I don't think this is any worse than Le boyfriend's leaving of squished bodies on his grape vine as a warning. Next thing you know we'll be seeing their little heads on pikes.